


A New Life

by HeidiBug731



Series: OutlawQueen Saga [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Complete, F/M, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Post-Curse Storybrooke, Storybrooke, backdated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-10 08:12:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3283241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeidiBug731/pseuds/HeidiBug731
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the Dark Curse broken, Regina and Robin and the rest of the inhabitants of Storybrooke are faced with rebuilding their lives. But even without magic, can anyone's life truly go back to normal so long as the Evil Queen remains in town?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Storybrooke

Theodora's shop in Storybrooke, Maine was one of alternative therapies and medicines. She offered therapeutic massages and acupuncture in addition to a wide selection of herbal remedies, including supplements, oils, and teas.

Her office was right next to Dr. Hopper's psychology practice. They often shared clients, and given that they both lived in separate apartments above their offices, they saw each other regularly. And though they had never quite managed to strike up a friendship, their relationship was an amenable one.

Theodora kept her shop hours similar to when Dr. Hopper held appointments since many of his patients liked to stop by her store afterwards. That Saturday had been a slow one, however, and she closed shop early. Then, as she always did when she found herself with some extra time on her hands, she drove over to Richard's Outdoor Depo.

It was a silly practice. She had told herself that very fact on several occasions, but she had never managed to stop herself from going. The Depo carried supplies for several outdoor activities, from fishing and boating to camping and hunting. There was even an area for outdoor games like horse shoes or corn hole. Richard was the store owner and he often came in to check stock, organize, welcome customers, and run the register.

Theodora thought he was quite good looking. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was. Perhaps the rugged look her carried – the stubble shadowing his chin, the tossed nature of his hair, and the softness in his eyes. Whatever it was, she kept coming back, if just to be in the same room as him.

She had never spoken to him; she had never been able to get up the nerve. She scolded herself for such ridiculousness - acting like a shy school girl. But something always seemed to stop her when she tried to get the words out, almost like there was some physical barrier in her way.

She always bought something when she visited - small purchases, and ones she tried to make useful. But she wasn't always successful, like the fishing rod sitting in her apartment that she had never used or the book on bird watching. But she did make regular use of a pair of gloves when she gathered fresh herbs from the woods for her shop. And that field guide had been useful in allowing her to make her own concoctions instead of relying solely on supplies from distributors.

She selected another pair of gloves this time. Her old pair was going worn, and one of her fingertips was sure to wear a hole in the tip very soon.

She turned with her intended purchase in her hand to glance at the cash registers. Richard was on one of them, but she wouldn't go down his lane. She knew by now that the nerves would get the best of her, so she skipped the mental battle with herself and headed down the second lane.

It wasn't a total loss, she thought to herself as she headed back to her car with her new gloves in hand. Her purchases always managed to remind her of Richard. She thought of him out in the woods when she was selecting herbs. And she thought of him at home whenever she saw the fishing pole leaning against the wall behind her coat rack.

It was silly, these items she bought to remind her of a man she could never manage to talk to. Maybe she should make an appointment with Dr. Hopper and discuss the situation. Surely there was some underlying issue that needed to be analyzed.

But then, the thought of sitting in a room with Archie - a man she counted as a very near friend - and discussing such girlish fantasies about a man she'd never even really met... She didn't know what Archie would think of her, and she certainly didn't want him to think she was crazy or anything of that sort. No, she could do without such his judgment even if he would be too kind to show it to her. This was just some silly game she would have to play until she tired of it.

She was just about to back the car out of the parking space when there came a knock at her window, and Theodora turned to find Richard smiling in at her.

She jumped in her seat, and then hurriedly rolled the window down.

"I'm sorry," he said laughing. "I didn't mean to scare you."

His laugh was infectious, and Theodora felt some courage seep into her. "No," she said with a smile. "It's alright. I just didn't see you."

He held out a hand for her to shake. "I'm Richard."

"I-I'm Theo," she said, reaching her hand through the window to clasp his. It was warm to the touch, and she hoped she wasn't blushing.

"I've seen you in the store a number of times," he said. "It's a shame we haven't met till now."

"Yes, it is," she said.  _Ask him out to coffee_ , said the little voice in her head.  _Ask him out to coffee._

"I like to make a point of meeting my regular customers," he continued.

"Good," she smiled. "I'm sure they appreciate it."  _What? What are you talking about?_ She realized then that she still had hold of his hand. She laughed nervously and let go. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Nah, it's ... alright," he told her, smiling.

His smile was just as catching as his laugh, and she couldn't help but smile back. Still, that little voice in her head asked if she’d already made this conversation too awkward.

"I-I won't keep you," he said when neither of them spoke. "It was nice meeting you, Theo."

"You, as well," she said.  _No. No! Call him back. Call him back!_

But he had already turned and was heading into the store.

Theodora sighed and laid her head against the steering wheel. Could she be anymore pathetic? How hard was it to ask a simple question?

"Would you like to get coffee?" she asked the wheel, her forehead still pressed to it. "You know, just two normal people getting coffee? Oh, you would?" she said, pulling her head up. She shifted the car into reverse and twisted in her seat to see behind her. "That's great. That's just great. Glad I asked."  _See, Theo? Not that hard._

She felt the tears start to overwhelm her when she pulled the car into park at her apartment. No, she was not going to do this. She was not some whiny, helpless, emotional teenager. She was a grown woman, and she would pick herself up and head into her lonely apartment and be content.

But she only made it up the stairs where she collapsed in front of her apartment door, her keys clutched in her hands. What was wrong with her? How hard was it to talk to one guy? And why was he so important anyway? She had her own place. She had a successful business. She didn't need a guy to complete her life. So, she should just stop crying over it.

But she couldn't help feeling that something was missing in her life, something she felt barred from grasping. Maybe it was this town. Maybe it was her solitary lifestyle. She had no idea. But some part of her desperately yearned for a change, and the other part of her seemed unable to make it. Whatever the reasons, she felt trapped with nowhere to go.

"Theo?" she looked up at Archie's voice. "Are you all right?"

How long had she been crying in the hallway? Had he heard her from his apartment or had he just come up the stairs and found her? He was in his full professional attire, but that didn't really indicate anything.

"I sorry," she breathed, pressing her hands to her eyes to stem the flow. "I just-" she took a breath. "It's been a rough day."

She let him help her to her feet. "You're sure you're all right?" he asked.

She rubbed her sleeve along her face to dry it. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I'll be fine. Thank you," she added.

He didn't leave right away. "If you need anything," he said seriously. "You know where to find me."

She managed a small smile at his kindness. "Yes, I do," she said, nodding. "Thank you." She truly did appreciate his concern.

He hesitated, perhaps still not sure if she was all right. But then he gave a small uncertain nod and turned toward his apartment.

She grabbed his arm. "A-Archie, wait! I-" As he turned back to her, she realized she didn't know what she had intended to say. She just... wanted some company. Would it be weird to ask him to stay with her? They weren't exactly friends. But all she wanted was for someone to sit and talk with for a little while. That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

She was lonely, and upset with herself for keeping her life that way. She was frustrated over not being able to take what she wanted. Opportunities had always been right in front of her, but she'd never been willing to grab them. Why was she always letting her life float by?

Archie was staring at her, and she still hadn't thought of anything to say. At last, he took a step toward her. "Theo-" He didn't get to finish because she grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him toward her so she could press her lips against his.

She pulled away slowly, uncertain if what she’d just done had been right or even if it was something she had wanted. Her emotions were all over the place, and she couldn't be sure of anything. But she knew she didn't want him thinking less of her, and she searched his face for reassurance.

He stared at her, his eyes wide with disbelief. Theodora was certain she’d just done something incredibly stupid. She was fighting to make her brain conjure some kind of an apology when Archie leaned forward, hesitated, and then pressed his lips to hers.

Theodora felt her boy relax. She raised her hands to slide over his shoulders, kissing him with more confidence as he did the same.

 _This._ She thought to her herself as Archie's arms pulled her closer.  _This is something._

 

 

She was feeling a little guilty the next morning as she climbed out of bed, moving slowly so as not to wake Archie as he slept beside her. She went to the kitchen to make herself a pot of tea and try to clear her head.

What had she been thinking? She and Archie hardly knew one another. It made so no sense for the two of them to just... But hadn't she wanted to be closer to him? Hadn't she wanted their relationship to go further? She'd thought she'd wanted friendship, but was it possible she'd wanted more than that?

And Richard... well, she knew Archie better than she knew him. And infatuation certainly didn't mean love. Sex didn't either, but she still thought she and Archie had a better chance of being a couple than her and Richard ever would. After all, she could at least _talk_ to Archie.

Maybe she didn't even like Richard. Maybe she'd just used him as something unattainable to project her feelings on. Could it be that she had liked Archie for a long time but had never been willing to admit it to herself? Had she been too afraid of messing something up that she’d avoided her feelings entirely? It certainly sounded like something she would do...

Her bedroom door opened and Archie walked through. His hair was lightly tousled. He wore his slacks from the night before with his dress shirt hanging untucked and lopsidedly buttoned. Theodora felt a jolt as she looked at him. She  _was_  attracted to him.

"G-good morning," he greeted as he closed the door behind him. And she realized she found his usual nervousness and the softness of his voice endearing.

He crossed to the bar where he sat on a stool across from her. She offered him a cup of tea, and he took it. "So," he said, not looking at her. "Uh..."

She knew the topic he was trying to bring up. What did the two of them do now? Did last night mean anything? Or had it just been harmless fun – two adults working out certain tensions? Did they turn and walk away from this like it had never happened or did they take it and make something more from it?

"I'd like to take you out for lunch," she told him with a confidence that surprised her.

"Really?" he asked, sounding as surprised as she felt.

She smiled at him and nodded, her nerves fading. She reached across the counter and laid her hand over his. "I'm not sure what there is between us, but I'll like to figure it out."

Archie smiled and turned his hand over so they were palm to palm. "I would too."

Theodora didn’t speak, just continued smiling at the man in front of her. Finally, something was changing in her life. And somehow, the prospect didn’t scare her. Maybe this was more right than she’d first realized.

"Can I... kiss you?" Archie asked, breaking into her thoughts.

She let out a laugh, surprised at his question considering the night they had shared. But last night had been so spontaneous, and this morning was more serious. "Of course," she told him.

He let go of her hand and circled the counter where he cradled her face and kissed her, his lips soft against hers. Theodora placed her hands on his arms and leaned into him, returning the kiss. She was surprised how confident he could be in his actions when at other times he could seem so nervous. They were like kindred spirits in that way, she supposed. She certainly had a nervousness about her. And she hadn’t realized she could possess confidence in anything but her work until last night.

They rested their foreheads together as their lips parted. Archie’s thumb caressed her cheek as he smiled at her.

"I, uh, have some things I need to take care of in my office," he admitted.

She nodded. "I have some herbs I need to gather."

"So, I'll see you for lunch, I guess?”

She nodded again, and he kissed her once more before returning to the bedroom to gather his things.

Theodora ran her fingers over her lips, liking this new twist in her life and wishing she could keep him with her a little longer.


	2. Broken

Theodora ventured into the woods. Due to her morning with Archie, it was later in the day than she usually collected herbs. While she preferred going out in the early morning when due still lingered on the grass, she was running low on supplies and couldn’t hold this off any longer.

She liked the focus the task required. But today she was a little distracted, her thoughts on Archie and wondering if the upcoming lunch would be the first step in a greater adventure. Many times she had to remind herself she hadn’t come into the woods to fantasize about men and love.

At last, she found the perfect specimen of moss at the base of a tree. She bent down to examine it, and then, determining it was right, she pulled out her small sheers to cut it free from the ground. Her equipment, as it always did, reminded her of Robert.

She paused in her work, and came to the decision to forget about him. He was just an infatuation, nothing more. What she felt for him had no real meaning, and the little interaction they’d had held no future. Archie was where her thoughts should lie. She would stop her little visits to the Depo, and whenever Richard entered her mind, she would push him away.

Confident in her choice, she returned to her attention to the moss. She lifted the edge she had loosened and began cutting away with her sheers. It was then, when a memory came to her, something she had forgotten for a very long time.

She gasped, dropping the sheers from her hand. She stood from her crouched position and stared off into the woods. The whole of the memory was too much for her take in all at once, and for a moment she stood frozen. But then her feet started to move and soon she broke into a sprint toward town.

Eventually, with a number of pauses on the way and wishes that she had thought to grab her car, she reached Richard's store, but it was closed. She should have thought of that with today being Sunday, but she hadn't. She turned around, facing the direction of her apartment and started off in that direction.

Eventually, they found each other on some back street. She and Richard froze in place, taking in each other's faces. And Theodora knew without a doubt that she had spent half a life with this man.

"Regina?" he said.

Her lip trembled, the recognition of her true name washing over her. "Robin?"

They ran toward each other, embracing as they met in the middle. Regina could hardly believe it. The memories were still forming in her head, not yet complete. But she understood that this man whom she'd been seeking for so long was her husband and that he'd been taken from her, that they'd both been cursed into forgetting one another.

They pulled back from each other and their lips met in passionate kisses before breaking apart for another embrace where they both had trouble keeping back the tears.

And then Regina remembered something else, a flash of dark hair like hers on a brilliant, bouncing child. Their child.

"Roland," she said, pulling back from Robin's arms to look up into his face. "Where's Roland?"

 

 

"Mommy?" said Eric, walking into the study where Ursula was organizing.

"Hmm?" she said, not looking up from where she was sorting files.

"Where's my mommy?" he asked.

Ursula looked up at him, perplexed, and then she smiled. "I'm right here, honey."

"No," he said with a shake of his head. "I had another mommy. Mommy ... Re-ina." The name came out like he was having trouble pronouncing it.

" _Regina?_ " asked Ursula, fear starting to sink into her chest.

He nodded. "I had a daddy, too."

Ursula released the filing cabinet and knelt down so she was on her son's level.

"Where did they go?" Eric asked.

Ursula struggled to come up with an explanation, her mind scrabbling to understand what was going on. "They left," she told him. "They had to go away."

"There was smoke," he told her. "And then they were gone. Where did they go?"

"I don't know, honey," she told him, concerned. She put a hand on his shoulder. "But they left you here with me."

"Oh," he said, a deeply thoughtful look on his face.

"Does that answer your question?" she asked uncertainly.

He grew a smile and nodded at her. "I'm gonna go play with my trains now," he said, and turned to leave the room.

Ursula followed him into the den. Then, once she was certain he was occupied, she headed out the front door and into the street. One of the neighbors was in the road and turning around in circles like they were bewildered at their surroundings. Then they spotted someone in the yard across the street who they ran to and embraced.

"No," Ursula whispered to herself. "No." She had felt something earlier, almost a breeze rolling through the house. She had dismissed it, but she should have recognized it for what it was.

She hurried back into the house where her son was playing. "Eric, how about we go on a little road trip?" she asked him.

He looked up at her and nodded. "Okay." But as he was standing, he paused. "They called me 'Roland'."

"Roland." Ursula said, too flustered now to be concerned. "Right."

"Can I take my trains?"

"Yes, of course." She hurried him outside where they got into the car.

She backed into the street and started driving without any goal in mind. The curse had broken - she didn't have time to wonder about how. People were starting to remember who they were, and soon they would remember who had made them forget. She couldn't let them find her or Roland. She'd lose him forever.

The first thought that occurred to her was her vault. They'd be safe there. No one would be able to find them, and she could think of a more long-term plan afterward.

She turned the car around and headed in the opposite direction. Roland was sitting behind her, smashing his toy trains together in a mock train wreck, completely oblivious to the danger they were facing.

A man stepped in front of her car, and Ursula hit the breaks. At first, she thought the man was just confused, that he had simply wondered into the road. But then he raised his arm and shouted at her. He knew who she was, and he was angry.

Ursula revved the engine, trying to scare him away.

"Mommy?" asked Roland, taking notice of the situation.

"It's okay, honey!" she told him, revving the engine again and letting the car slip forward a few inches.

The man took the hint and moved, afraid the woman he knew as the Evil Queen would follow through on the threat.

Ursula continued down the road, but she only got a few blocks before she noticed more people coming toward her. There was a crowd of them now. She certainly wouldn't be able to scare them all off, and while she was half tempted to plow through them, she wouldn't do so with Roland able to watch.

She drove the car in reverse. She would take the long route to the vault. It would take more time, but with the back roads she would be less likely to run into people.

But too much time had passed, it seemed. The victims of her curse were appearing one after another, spotting her car and heading toward her. Ursula sped back to the house where she pulled Roland out of the car and carried him inside the front door.

It didn't take long for the inhabitants of Storybrooke to converge upon the place, shouting and knocking on the walls and windows.

"Mommy?" asked Roland, frightened at the situation.

Ursula took him into her arms, pulling him tighter as the front door started to shake like they were trying to break it down.

"It's okay, sweetheart," she told him, picking him up and taking him into the study where there were no windows. She sat with him in the corner, cradling him to her and trying to protect him as much as she could from the outside world that was trying to break in upon them. "It will be okay." She buried her face in his hair, wishing the world would go as dark as her vision and leave the two of them alone.

 

 

Ursula sat on the cot in her cell in the Sheriff's office. She had no Roland to hold on to now. The townspeople had broken into the house and had taken him, kicking and screaming from her arms. She had a bruise above her left eye where someone had hit her to get her to let go of the boy.

She'd thought they were all going to kill her. That is, until Snow and Charming showed up. They'd broken through the crowd, calmed them down, and insisted she be locked up for her own safety and for everyone else's.

So here she was, stuck in this tiny cell with no Roland and no magic. Her great curse had come tumbling down around her, and she found herself with less than she'd had before she'd become the Evil Queen. Whatever they planned on doing with her, she thought killing her might have been the more merciful option.

"Ursula?"

She recognized the voice, though she hadn't heard it in decades. She looked up to see Caspian standing tentatively a few feet from her cell.

It must have been a shock for him when the curse broke, realizing he had once been a merman, the curse having ripped him from the sea and given him legs. In Storybrooke, he'd lived on the streets, homeless, friendless, and without family. Anytime he'd tried to get his life in order, he'd failed. She'd made sure of it - she'd written it as part of his story. She'd wanted him to suffer as she had.

"What do you want?" she asked him, taking in his clothing which was ragged and filthy. Had he come to make her answer for what she'd done to him?

"I ... I came to see you," he said simply.

She spread her arms. "Well now you see me. Anything else?" She expected him to leave, like he'd done every other time they'd met.

He took a step forward. "I came to apologize."

That caught her off guard. "What?"

"All those years in the Enchanted Forest," he told her. "I thought you needed my protection when really I should have given you my love. I'm not upset over what you did to me," he explained. "Because you deserved better. You and Eric."

Ursula threw herself against bars so hard they shook. "Do  _not_  say his name!" She shouted at him. "You have no right! Since the day of his conception to the moment of his death, you were nowhere in his life! You have no right for his name to grace your lips!"

Caspian had his hands held out before him in a gesture of peace. But there was a look of terror on his face, like he was truly seeing her darkness for the first time.

"I heard the stories," he told her. "The events of the land eventually make their way down to the sea. But I couldn't believe it was my Ursula, the girl I had known."

"I was never yours," she told him, her hands still clutching the bars. "You gave up any claim to me. And that girl you knew is long gone."

He studied her face, as though trying to discern if her words were true. Maybe that young girl was in there somewhere underneath that hard exterior. Eventually, she saw the grief sink into his face.

"Don't you pity me," she told him. "Everything I have, I gained for myself. And I have achieved much."

"What also have you lost?" he asked her, his voice wavering.

She scoffed and turned away from him, finding herself completely disgusted with him. He had no idea what she'd lost. Their one night of passion had cost her family, her livelihood, and her friends. She'd given birth to their son impoverished and alone. She had spent years wishing for his return to her, but it had never come. He had never inquired about how much she'd lost back then.

She had clawed and climbed her way bruised and bloodied to the top of the social status. She had done it alone, and alone as the Evil Queen she stood. But if being alone as the Evil Queen was the cost when no one else had bothered to help her before she’d gained the title, she'd take it. She preferred solitude to the hypocrites.

"Leave me," she said when she noticed he was still standing there.

He hesitated, but he did leave. The irony didn't escape her that the last time they'd met, she'd been crying out for him to come back.


	3. Choices

"Where did you go, mommy?" asked Roland to his mother as he sat playing with his trains at Snow's apartment.

"Go?" Regina asked her son. She knelt next to him, her hand holding on to one of his.

"There was smoke," he told her. "And then you were gone."

Regina struggled for an answer. She knew the moment he was remembering - the last few seconds right before the curse. How could she explain to her four-year-old that his memories had been altered by a curse cast by the woman he had believed was his mother for the past twenty eight years? "We ... you were taken from us, and we couldn't find you."

"I was lost?" he said.

Regina nodded and kissed her little boy's hair. "But now you are found."

He grinned, and then looked passed her into the kitchen. "Do you have to go talk with the grownups now?"

"Yes," she told him, her hand still on his. "But I'll be back."

"Okay," he said and went back to his trains, rolling them along the ground.

It was hard for Regina to leave him. They'd been parted from each other for so long, she was terrified that if she turned her gaze from him for even a moment, he'd be taken from her all over again. But they were irrational fears, she knew. He was safe, at least for the moment. No one could take him from her, Robin, Snow, Charming, and their daughter, Emma, all together in this little apartment.

With some reluctance, she stood from the floor and joined her husband.

"So," Emma said as Regina came over. "If any of you cross the town borders, you lose your memories from the..." she struggled with the name.

"Enchanted Forrest," Snow chimed in.

"Right," said Emma slowly. She seemed to be having trouble coping with the idea that her parents were fairy tale characters.

Regina could only imagine what the poor girl was going through, having just met her parents the other day and until then having no real understanding of her true identity. But Regina couldn't sympathize with her at the moment. She had greater concerns on her mind.

"We can't leave?" she asked the group, this information being new to her.

Charming shook his head. "The dwarfs checked it out this morning. Sneezy doesn't remember anything from the Enchanted Forrest. He only has his Storybrooke memories."

"Poor, Sneezy," said Snow, looking as disheartened as Regina felt.

"But if none of us can leave..." Regina was too discouraged to finish the rest of the sentence.

"We're stuck here with Ursula," Robin finished for her, and she didn't miss him looking over her shoulder to glance at Roland after he finished saying it.

They were silent for a moment before Emma spoke. "Couldn't you guys ... send Ursula across the line?"

They all looked at her.

"I mean," she said. "She'll lose her memories from the..."

"Enchanted Forest," Snow supplied.

"Right," said Emma, but she still wouldn't say the name. "So, she won't remember who any of you are. And if me and my family are the only ones who can enter Storybrooke..." She looked to her parents for confirmation on this fact, and they nodded. "Then, there's no way she can ever return."

Snow and Regina looked at each other.

"Would that even work?" asked Robin. "I mean, she didn't exactly rewrite Storybrooke memories for herself."

"Good point," said Charming. "But if it did work..."

"No," the two women said simultaneously.

Emma stared at the two of them.

"I'm afraid our wives," said Robin, putting an arm around Regina to let her know he didn't begrudge her opinion. "Have been rather adamant on giving Ursula second chances."

Emma looked at the two women questionably.

"I could have been her," Regina explained. "She was alone with no family to rely on and in a position she resented. And then Rumpelstiltskin came along and promised her everything she'd ever wanted. I  _was_  her. Before I met you," she added, turning to her husband. He gave her side a squeeze.

"And I," said Snow slowly when Emma turned to her. "Killed her son. It was an accident," she added to her daughter's shocked look. "If I had thought things through, if I hadn't been so insistent, Eric might still be alive, and Ursula may never have gone as dark as she has."

"Look," said Emma when the women had finished and no one said anything. "I know the two of you sympathize with her, but she tore your families apart. If you've given her second chances before, she clearly hasn't taken them. Are you really willing to risk her hurting you again?"

"I have to agree," said Charming, looking pointedly at the women. He already knew he had no disagreement from Robin.

"Except," said Snow slowly. "This time's different. This time, she doesn't have magic."

Regina couldn't help but share her hope. "Magic is what started her down this path. Maybe without it, things can change."

They were all silent for a few moments while they mulled the idea over. Then they turned to Emma, who had been so helpful with her input thus far.

"Hey, don't look at me," she told them. "This is your town."

 

 

Ursula sat on the cot in her cell with her elbows on her knees and her hands clasped in front of her. She seemed like any ordinary woman in her business attire, so different from the Evil Queen Regina knew her as.

Regina was reminded once again how easily she and Ursula could have switched places. She remembered the day she, herself, had been accused of casting Ursula's dark magic. The two women were very similar in appearance. Both possessed dark hair and eyes, and they had the exact same shade of skin. Though, Ursula's face was longer and fuller. Her hair was also cut to shoulder length now, while Regina had kept her hair long.

Robin had offered to come with her to the sheriff's office, but Regina had wanted to do this on her own. She wanted to look upon the woman she had once counted as a near friend and try to understand how she had come to steal her son from her.

Ursula must have felt her gaze because she looked up at her. "I didn't expect  _you_  to come see me," she said.

"I wanted to look at the woman who stole my child."

Ursula scoffed. "Have you so easily forgotten what your actions did to mine?"

No, Regina hadn't forgotten. Snow might have dealt the killing blow, but Regina had been in the room too. They had both tried to stop Ursula, to end her control over the King. Neither of them could have foreseen Eric getting in the way.

And yet, as terrible as that memory was for her... "That gives you an excuse to take Roland from us?"

"You don't understand," said Ursula, standing a grasping the bars of her cell. "I  _needed_  him. Surely, you've noticed the similarities between the two of them?"

Regina had noticed. Roland was every bit the kind, energetic boy Eric had been. And the two looked almost exactly the same, except for their eyes. Eric's had been blue, like his father's. Roland's eyes were brown.

"I didn't plan on taking him." Ursula continued as she bowed her head. "Not at first. But when it came time to write his story, and I saw him ... I just couldn't..." She looked up a Regina. "I needed my son."

"He isn't yours." Regina told her.

"Well," said Ursula, releasing the bars and crossing her arms. "Not anymore."

Regina turned away from her, trying to deal with the emotions welling within her. Part of her was hurt at Ursula's betrayal, and the other part of her was frustrated that she even cared at this point.

"Is that all you came to see me about?" asked Ursula.

"No," Regina admitted. She turned back around. "Someone went across the town border. They lost their memories from the Enchanted Forest all over again."

Ursula nodded thoughtfully.

"What happens if you cross the line?"

Ursula took a long breath and let it out. "There was an option for my memories to be rewritten. And new memories were prepared, though I decided not to use them... I believe if I were to cross the line, I'd lose my memories from the Enchanted Forrest as well."

"And have new ones?" Regina clarified.

"And have new ones," Ursula agreed.

Regina took a breath. "We've decided to give you a choice. You can choose to walk across the town line of your own free will and start a new life, or you can stay here in Storybrooke. You'll be released from this cell and allowed to live your life as you see fit." She paused. "But if you try to hurt anyone, you'll be forced over the line."

Ursula said nothing as she considered her choices. "That's quite the generous offer."

"You've had them before," said Regina.

"And yet you keep giving them."

The two women stared at one another and said nothing.

"I'd like to stay in Storybrooke." Ursula said at last.

Regina didn't know if she could trust her. In fact, she knew she couldn't. But they had all agreed to give her the choice. It was now up to her whether or not anything good would come of it.

Regina gave a nod. "I'll let everyone know. You'll be let out later." She turned to leave and then stopped. "One last thing," she said, turning back around. "You're to stay away from my son."

 

 

Ursula had not decided to stay in Storybrooke on a whim. She may not have Roland, and she may not have magic, but she was going to make the most of the choice she had been given - just not in the way those goody-two-shoes hoped she would.

She had formed personal vendettas against many people during the course of her life. Snow White was an obvious choice for the death of her son. She also had some unfinished business with Rumpelstiltskin. There were many others to name, but she was willing to put it all aside for the one person she blamed for nearly every misfortune in her life. The Sea King.

The Sea King was the reason Caspian had been unable to return to her after their first night together. He was the reason Eric had grown up without a father. And from that unfortunate situation, Ursula was certain all her other problems stemmed. If she'd had a partner to help raise Eric, she might not have felt so lonely or like she'd had such a weight to carry on her own. She might not have turned to magic. And then she would never have caught the eye of Rumpelstiltskin. She would never have tried to take over King Leopold's kingdom. Eric wouldn't have died in the ensuing battle. All the pain in her life was one long chain of events she could link back to the Sea King. And if there was only one person she could cause harm to before they forced her across the town line, it was going to be him.

As soon as she was able, she headed straight for Gold's shop. It was there she hoped to find the Sea King's trident. It was an ancient magical weapon that, from her knowledge, not even the merpeople understood the full origin of. While Storybrooke might not have magic, if she'd been able to get Jefferson's hat to work enough to get the poison apple she'd used to try to curse the Cassady family, then it took to reason any ancient magical object should still have some power. And if not, she could always use the pointy end.

There was a certain poetic justice that came to mind when she considered killing the Sea King with his own weapon. And if she was only going to get one shot at her revenge, she was going to do it right.

"Good afternoon, Madam Mayor," said Rumpelstiltskin pleasantly as she entered.

She saw past his sly grin. Her curse had been broken, and she'd been sentenced by Snow and Charming. He was gloating, rubbing it in. But she ignored him.

"The Sea King's trident," she told him. "I need it."

"Thinking of killing someone?" he asked her, still grinning. "My, you're in quite the hurry to leave town, aren't you?"

"Where is it?" she asked.

He glanced around his store. "Are you sure it crossed over?"

"I made sure it did."

He gave a shrug. "Don't recall having seen it. Sorry."

Ursula studied him. She was used to him playing difficult with her, but this seemed different. He seemed too pleased at the situation, and he hadn't bothered to point out even one flaw of hers. It was like he was waiting for her to take some kind of bait.

"What do you want?" she asked him.

"You're the one who came to me," he told her. "Tell me what you want."

She studied him again, trying to understand his game before saying, "I want... to make a deal."

He let out a breath of laughter. "You have nothing to bargain with."

"Oh, but I do," she told him.

He leaned toward her. "Enlighten me."

He was too coy, too confident. That grin on his face hadn't faded once. What was she missing?

"You remember Belle?" The moment the question left her lips, she realized her mistake.

His expression never changed. He simply leaned back, turned his head, and called, "Belle, darling, will you come out here for a moment?"

Ursula watched as the woman she had believed to be held captive beneath the hospital emerged from the back room. The two women locked eyes, and it was Ursula who looked away.

"That will be all, dear," he told her softly. "Thank you."

She hesitated. "Is everything all right?"

Rumple turned back to Ursula, the smug smile still on his face. "Just showing the woman who kept you captive for over twenty eight years that you're no longer hers."

"How?" Ursula asked as Belle returned to the back room.

"Someone you crossed," Rumple explained as he folded his hands. "Didn't like that you crossed them."

She had too many questions. Who had known? Who could have gotten into the hospital basement to set Belle free? How long ago did this occur? But more than the questions running through her mind was the image of Rumple's grin burning into her vision as he stood in front of her. She wanted to smack it off his face, but it wouldn't help matters. Her one bargaining chip, which she had kept for so long specifically for a moment just like this one, was gone.

There was no point in continuing the conversation. Rumple wasn't going to give her anything. She pushed off from the counter, letting her frustration show.

"You know," her old mentor called after her. "There was a moment when I could have brought magic to this little town. I think it's best that I didn't. I kind of like watching you squirm."

He laughed, and his laughter followed her out of the store.


	4. Roland

Ursula's first few days of living in Storybrooke post-curse were rough. She'd returned home to find Roland's toys still scattered about the den. Cleaning them up had put her in tears, and afterwards she couldn't help but notice all the ways in which he still inhabited the house - his pictures on the mantle, the food he ate in the fridge, his pajamas in the laundry, his bedroom with the bed unmade upstairs.

She had no idea what she was supposed to do. Should she just throw out his food? Re-purpose his bedroom? Donate his toys to the thrift store? The thoughts put in her in tears all over again.

She'd loved Roland. He hadn't been hers to love, but she'd loved him just the same. And now that he was gone, she didn't know what she was supposed to do with herself. Just being in the house seemed to put her in an incurable depression.

It was a near welcome distraction that she was asked to leave the Mayor's office. It was time consuming to go through everything, and there was nothing of Roland in that place to distract her. But then she'd left the office to find her car egged and covered in graffiti. And when she'd finally gotten home, she was forced to face little reminders of Roland all over again.

She was relieved when she realized she needed to go grocery shopping - anything to get out of the house. But like the office, the grocery store turned out to be less of a blessing than she had hoped. She was used to needing to shop for both her and Roland, and her feet kept carrying her to aisles she no longer needed to browse nor had intended to visit. She'd be confused at first, wondering why she had gone down the aisle, and then she'd remember Roland and she'd have to suppress her emotions.

It was a frustrating experience. She found herself standing in the snack aisle staring at the fruit gummies he liked and wondering how long she was going to suffer like this when she heard a voice behind her.

"Mommy!"

For one strange, startling, and impossible moment, Ursula thought it was her own son, Eric, who had run into her arms. But then the little boy lifted his head and she saw his brown eyes.

"Roland," she said, surprised and wondering what he was doing here.

"I miss you," he said, hugging her. "Why don't you come visit me?"

"I..." Ursula cast her gaze around, looking for the boy's parents. They couldn't approve of him being with her.

"Roland!" came Regina's voice.

Ursula turned around to see Regina and Robin standing with a shopping cart at the other end of the aisle.

"You better go back to your parents," she said, giving Roland a nudge.

"I wanna stay with you," he said shaking his head.

"Roland," said Robin, stepping forward. "Come on, son."

But Roland shook his head, and held on to Ursula's hand. "No. I want to visit mommy Urs-la."

Ursula didn't know what to do. Robin walked toward them.

"You better go," she told the child, trying to pull his hand from hers, but he refused.

Robin had to pick Roland up and pull him from her. The boy cried and screamed the whole way back to the cart and didn’t stop as the family walked away.

Ursula found herself unable to do anymore shopping. She wondered the aisles aimlessly, trying to give the family time to leave the store so she didn't run into them at the checkout. Once she was ready to go, however, her day didn't get any easier.

"Our registers aren't working," said the man at the counter. He had a scruffy look about him - his hair and short beard were untidy. "You're going to have to go somewhere else."

Ursula stared at him. "Seriously?"

"You can just leave those items with me," he said, reaching for her basket.

Ursula was in no mood - she'd just had her son ripped from her for a second time. She kept a firm hand on her groceries and leaned toward the man. "And if I refuse?"

He hesitated. It didn't seem he had considered her putting up resistance. Ursula doubted he was as tough as he looked.

He was saved from having to answer her, however. "We all have to coexist in this town," said Snow, coming up in the line behind them. "The least we can do is tolerate each other."

"After what she did to us?" the man asked her incredulously.

"Yes," said Snow simply. "Besides," she added, when the man did nothing but blink at her. "You're holding up the line."

That much was true, and the man begrudgingly rang up the few items Ursula had managed to gather. It wasn't nearly everything she had needed. She'd have to come back, but she doubted it would be anytime soon.

"That will be twenty six, fifty seven," said the cashier.

It was Ursula's turn to stare. She only had one bag. "You up-charged me!"

Snow made a noise like she was about to step in, and Ursula decided it wasn't worth suffering through.

"Fine," she said, digging some bills out of her purse. She pressed them down on the counter and took her bag. "Keep the change." She huffed out of the store.

But, damn it, if Snow didn't come after her. "Ursula!"

"I don't need nor want your mercy," Ursula told her, spinning around to face her. She didn't wait for Snow to reply, just turned back and headed toward her car that she still hadn't been able to get the graffiti off of.

But Snow replied anyway. "Well, you have it."

"It's wasted," she said, but she doubted Snow heard. And if she had, Ursula knew it wouldn't make a difference.

"Why can't I see mommy Urs-la?" asked Roland after they'd returned home from the grocery store and he had calmed down.

Regina still found it difficult to explain the situation to him, but if they were to avoid another incident like the one in the store, she was going to have to try.

She knelt next to him. "You remember the smoke right before we disappeared?"

Roland nodded.

"Well, it was Ursula who sent the smoke. She used magic to separate us so we couldn't find you. She stole you," Regina added when her son didn't seem to understand.

"Urs-la wouldn't do that," he said, shaking his head.

"She did," Regina told him. "She cursed us so we couldn't find you. She's evil."

"She's not evil!" Roland told her. "She took care of me when you weren't there! She loves me!"

"She doesn't love you," Regina told him, though she herself questioned the validity of that statement.

"You're a liar!" Roland yelled at her. "You're lying! You shouldn’t lie! Lying’s wrong!"

Regina tried to calm him down, but he started crying and screaming and stomping his feet.

"That is not how we behave in this house, young man," said Robin, stepping in.

Regina left Roland's room to stand in the hall. She leaned against the wall and put her face in her hands. It was hard for her to accept the boy in the other room had been raised by another mother for twenty eight years. As much as she wanted to, it didn't seem possible for her and Robin to continue with Roland where they'd left off.

"He's lying down," Robin told her when he came out of the room and joined her.

"I just don't know how to handle this," Regina told him, looking down at her hands. There was a time, before the curse, when she could have cured anything that ailed her little boy. But so long as Roland thought of Ursula as his mother, things were going to be different. How different, was the question.

Robin didn't have anything to say to her. She could tell he was just as concerned about the situation as she was.

"I have an idea," she said at last, and though she dreaded facing her neighbor down the hall, she knocked on his apartment door anyway.

 

 

Archie spent over half an hour analyzing Roland. Robin and Regina stood by while he played with Roland and asked him questions about when the curse had hit, his time with Ursula, and what he felt and remembered when the curse broke. And then, just in case Roland wasn't being truthful with his parents around, Archie sent Robin and Regina out into the hall while he spent another fifteen minutes with him alone.

At last, Archie came out of Roland's room. It took him a moment to compose his thoughts. And when he spoke, he either looked at Robin or directed his gaze between Robin and Regina. He wouldn’t look at her directly.

"When the curse broke," he told them. "We had two lives in our head: the one from the Enchanted Forest and the one the curse created for us. Our minds," he said, raising his hands to his head. "Are able to separate the two and label one as true and the other as false." He lowered his hands and took a breath." As far as I can tell, Roland is too young for his mind to separate the two. He sees both Storybrooke and the Enchanted Forrest as real. He sees both Ursula and you as his parents."

Regina ran her hands over her face. She did not like where this was going.

"She treated him well," Archie continued, turning his gaze to Regina. Perhaps he meant to try to comfort her, but he quickly drew his gaze away again. "To try and tell him the evils that Ursula has done, doesn't match up with his perception of her. As far as he understands, all she's ever done is care for him. While many of us experienced personality changes from the curse, it seems Roland was spared from this. Ursula kept him just the same. Her intent wasn't to harm him, like she desired with most of us. She simply wanted to be his mother, and to do that, she had to make him forget about you. It seems she loved him as her own."

Robin put an arm around his wife who had hidden her face completely in her hands now. "So what do we do?"

Archie gave a large sigh and rocked on the balls of his feet. It was obvious this was hard for him. "There are cases of children being stolen from their parents as infants or otherwise when very young. These children don't remember their real parents, and instead have only ever associated their kidnapper as their true parental figure. When these children are finally discovered, it can be quite stressful for the child to understand what happened to them. It takes years for them to fully accept and adjust to it."

"Is that what we can expect from Roland?" asked Robin.

Archie winced. "Roland's case," he said slowly. "Is unique in that he and Ursula have to inhabit the same town. In the cases I mentioned, the children are cut off from all contact with their former 'parents.' But Roland has the chance of encountering Ursula every day. His adjustment to understanding Ursula the way we do may never occur. And in that case... I fear, if he continues to encounter her and be kept from her, it will only build resentment between him and you." He gestured at the two of them.

Regina sobbed into hands. Archie took a step toward her but stopped as Robin pulled her further into his arms and rubbed her back. Archie stepped back to his original place and waited for the couple to compose their thoughts. He didn’t look at them.

"So... you're suggesting..." Robin said, struggling with the words. "That we let the ... the woman who stole our son ... back into his life?"

Archie chewed on his lip. "I agree the situation is less than ideal... I can't tell you what you should do. I can only advise you. And my fear is that with all of us trapped here-"

"Thank you, Dr. Hopper," said Regina, finally raising her tear streaked face from her hands. She couldn’t look at him anymore than he was able to look at her. "That will do."

Archie nodded, hesitated, then said, “I’m sorry,” before heading for the door.

Regina didn’t know if he was sorry about Roland or about what had transpired between them only a few short days ago. But she didn’t ask. She was too tired and too worried about her son to dwell on anything else.


	5. Ursula

Regina sat on the sofa with a cup of tea in her hands, mulling over everything Archie had said. It was late, and Roland had finally gone to sleep. Robin joined her on the couch with his own cup of tea.

"What are you thinking?" he asked her.

Regina let out a breath of air. She knew she would have to tell her husband what had transpired between her and Archie. And part of her wanted to tell him in that moment. But Roland was important right now, and she didn’t think her emotions could handle worrying over anything else.

"I don't want her around him," she admitted. "I don't want her anywhere near him."

Robin nodded. "That's going to be incredibly difficult."

"There's got to be some way-" she started.

"How?" he asked her, calmly. "Lock him inside the apartment until he turns eighteen? Restrict Ursula to one side of town and us to the other while we each schedule different times to go grocery shopping?"

"Well, that one-" she said.

"Regina," said her husband. "That's no life." He gave a laugh. "Besides, I bet if you pulled out a map, there's no perfect way to dissect the town."

"Why aren't you upset about this?" she said him, frustrated at his humor.

"I am upset," he told her seriously. "I'm upset that our son was taken from us. I'm upset that someone else raised our little boy. And I'm upset that it looks like we're going to have to share him with the same woman that took him." He sat his tea on the table in front of them. "But you don't need me to be upset right now. You need someone to be able to reason through this with you. You need someone who can tell you it's going to be okay. So that's the person I'm going to be."

She stared at him. His words reminded her of how much she loved him. And it was crazy to think that only a few days ago she had resolved to forget all about him. "So what do we do?"

"We take Dr. Hopper's advice," he said. "Ursula..." He took a large breath. "Gets weekend visits."

Regina brought her hands to her head, worries over Ursula and Archie colliding in her mind. "We really want to leave him with the woman who cursed the whole town?" she managed.

"You heard what Dr. Hopper said," Robin reasoned. "All she's ever done is love him. And while you and I were cursed, we both thought she was a good parent. She wouldn't hurt him. And," he added slowly. "If we're advocating giving her a second chance, maybe it will help her see what she's fighting for."

"You didn't want to give her a second chance," Regina reminded him. She was near tears. Her head hurt and she was emotionally exhausted. Part of her just wanted to throw up her hands and go to bed.

"I still don't," he said, putting an arm around her in an attempt to comfort her. "But you and Snow do. And if she's working hard to change, we shouldn't have to fear our son being around her."

Regina sighed. "I'm just so..."

"Angry?" Robin supplied.

"Tired… and angry, yes," she told him. "It's not fair she got so much time with him."

"I think right now," Robin said. "We have to put aside our feelings and think about what's best for Roland."

"It's best that Roland's with his parents who love him," said Regina, and then she took a great sigh. Archie’s advice to them rang in her ears, and she relented. "Even if there's three of us."

 

 

Ursula hadn't given up on finding the trident. She was certain it was in Gold's shop. But she needed to coordinate a time to visit when he wasn't manning the store. And between moving out of the Mayor's Office and the emotional turmoil of missing Roland and dealing with the residents of Storybrooke, she found herself exhausted and distracted.

Eventually, she found her mind turning to revenge again. She waited until she knew Rumple had left the store to give the hunt for the trident another try. When she approached, she was surprised to hear shouting coming from the shop. There was a man's voice, deep and gruff - certainly not Rumple's. And then there was Belle's.

"I don't know where it is!" she said, shouting only to be heard over the man's words. "Please, come back later when Mr. Gold is here and maybe he can help!"

Ursula could hear footsteps, the sound of something crashing to the floor, and then the front door burst open and slammed shut, revealing a man of robust build with hair that had gone white, though there were hints of color to it that suggested it had once been strawberry blonde. The wavy locks fell to his shoulders, and to his chest hung a full beard. He had brilliant blue eyes, but they were also cold.

The man froze when he caught sight of Ursula.

"Hello, Lucian," she said in the most pleasant voice she could muster.

"Witch." He huffed and headed toward her. "I _will_ find my trident," he said. "And when I do, I'll be leaving behind this hell hole you put me in."

She smiled. "Not if I put you in a new one first."

He gave a grunt and thundered past her. Ursula didn't know where he was going, and she didn't care. All she wanted was the opportunity to search Gold's shop without Rumpelstiltskin looking over her shoulder. Then she would give Lucian his just reward.

She went through the door. Belle looked up at her from the pile of knickknacks the Sea King had knocked on the floor. She seemed relieved it was Ursula and not him.

"Let me guess," she said, returning to the pile. "You're here for the-"

"Trident," Ursula finished.

Belle sighed. "I don't know where it is."

"Mind if I look around?"

Belle shrugged and continued trying to remedy the mess at her feet. She seemed overwhelmed at the situation. "Be my guest."

Ursula started searching the shop. She was surprised at how nonchalant Belle seemed to be in her presence. She had locked the girl up for several years, after all. Maybe she was just too overwhelmed with running the shop to care about anything else at the moment. And, in the long scheme of things, it wasn't important.

Ursula looked for the trident in the obvious places first. One would think it would be easy to spot, given how large an object it was supposed to be. But she couldn't find it leaning against any of the walls, hidden in any corners, or tucked into any of the display cases.

There were certain magical objects she knew of that could change size, and she thought perhaps the trident might have shrunk upon its crossing. She made sure to examine all the silverware closely, especially any three-prong fork she came across. But she found nothing unusual.

There were also, of course, magical objects that could change shape. And if the trident had done so, she doubted she'd ever find it. But she carefully examined anything related to water, from fishing rods to sailor uniform buttons to sea themed ornaments. Again, she came up empty.

She even searched the back room Rumple usually lurked in to see if he might be hiding it from her. She, of course, found nothing there either.

Belle stared at her when she exited from the back. Perhaps she meant to tell her off, but she didn’t say anything.

Ursula brushed her hands absentmindedly on her slacks. "So, where is the imp?"

Belle shook her head like she was confused, like she wasn't used to Rumple being referred to in that way. "He - he's with his son."

"His son?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Belle. "Neal Cassady? He's part of that family that..."

Belle trailed off, but Usula knew the name. And she knew the family had been responsible for breaking the curse. She didn't know the details, but that Neal Cassady had been snooping around too much. And he'd known Mary Margaret's real name.

She felt the anger rumble inside her. If she had her way, she'd descend upon that family and destroy them. But she couldn't lose focus. It was the Sea King she wanted. She couldn't waste her one opportunity on someone else.

After giving the shop one last look over, Ursula left feeling frustrated. She was certain the trident had crossed over, and she was certain it was in Gold's shop. But without any means of finding it... She wasn't sure if she should give herself more time to look or if she should devote that time to planning another satisfying method of revenge.

 

 

It was then, as she sat at home contemplating her options, that the telephone rang. She was surprised to hear Regina on the other side of the line and even more surprised as to the topic of conservation.

After hanging up the phone, Ursula ran to Roland's room to make sure everything was straightened and waiting for him. She was checking over his play area when the doorbell rang. She couldn't help her excitement as she opened the door and was immediately greeted by Roland hugging her legs.

"Mommy!" he cried. He looked up into her face. "I get to stay with you tonight!"

Ursula laughed. "Yes, you do." She ruffled his hair and then ushered him inside while she remained standing at the door with his parents.

Regina seemed to be struggling for words while Robin stood beside her looking generally displeased.

"I don't know," Regina said at last. "If I'll ever be able to forgive you for taking our son from us, but Roland loves you." She let out a breath. "If you really want to be a part of this town, to make a change for the better, than Roland should be a part of your life."

Ursula couldn't help but feel touched at her words. She had expected to never seen Roland again. And the fact that his parents were trusting him with her meant a lot. She hadn't planned on trying to change - she hadn't expected the opportunity would make any kind of difference. But if it meant having Roland in her life...

"You if bring harm to anyone," Robin warned her. "You won't see Roland again."

Ursula nodded. And the thought first occurred to her that if she did hurt anyone, it wouldn't matter if Regina and Robin took Roland away; he probably wouldn't want to see her anyway.

When the boy's parents finally left, she joined Roland in the den where they played for hours. Eventually, Roland grew hungry and Ursula realized she didn't have anything to feed him since her last grocery trip had gone so poorly.

She took him to the store with her, and she was surprised at the difference in reception. People still seemed weary of her, but with Roland at her side they were unwilling to cause any kind of fuss.

Upon arriving home, she and Roland ate dinner and then returned to the den to watch a movie, during which Roland fell asleep. Ursula tucked him into bed, and as she looked down on his sleeping form, she made a vow that she would drop her vendetta against the Sea King, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, and countless others. She would do everything she could to keep him in her life, and if that meant putting aside her grievances, she would do it. She would try for him.


	6. Night Out

Regina paced the apartment. Try as she might, she couldn't calm her nerves. They had just returned home from dropping Roland off at Ursula's, and the moment the curse had first separated all of them kept playing over and over again in her head.

"Everything will be fine," Robin said, going to her and steadying her.

"I know," she said, trying to calm herself. "I just..." She didn't finish because he already knew what was bothering her.

Robin rubbed her arms, trying to be comforting. "We're going to go out tonight, catch up with our friends, and have a good time."

Regina nodded. She was looking forward to getting out. It was such a relief when the doorbell rang because she couldn't wait to have something to distract her from her thoughts.

"Tink!" she said, embracing the blonde woman as she came through the door. They had never interacted in Storybrooke before. But now, with the curse broken, they'd been able to find each other.

"It's so good to see you," Tink greeted. She released Regina and hesitated before hugging Robin.

Regina didn't miss the awkward air around the two of them, and she eyed them questionably.

"Do you have tea?" asked Tinkerbell, buckling under the pressure. "I'm sure you do. I'll go make some." She retreated into the kitchen.

Regina raised her eyebrows at her husband, who let out a long sigh.

"Astoria," he said, jerking his head in Tinkerbell's direction, indicating her Storybrooke name. "And Richard dated for a while ... semi-seriously."

Regina stared at him. "Did you sleep with her?"

Robin floundered as he struggled for an answer. He wouldn't look at her. "Y-yes," he finally managed.

Regina groaned, turning from him and putting her face in her hands, trying to block the image from her mind of her husband and her best friend.

"We were cursed." Robin told her, stepping forward to place a hand on her shoulder. "We didn't know who we were." He circled around and gently pulled her hands from her face. "Come on," he said. "You must have dated. Maybe even..."

Regina sighed as she lowered her hands. She hadn’t told Robin about Archie. And although she hadn’t been trying to hide it from him, she hadn’t exactly been looking forward to conversation.

"Archie," she admitted, not looking at him.

Robin looked taken aback. "W-what?"

Regina returned her gaze to him and they could only stare at each other. Eventually, Regina found a question. “How long?”

Robin gave a shrug and shook his head. “About a year. We broke up long before the curse broke.”

Regina turned away from him. Robin and Tink we only awkward because they worried about what their relationship might mean to Regina, not because there were any feelings left between them to work out. Regina and Archie… she was confused, to say the least. She knew who her husband was and she loved him with all her heart. But that didn’t erase what the curse had done. It couldn’t erase the hope she’d held nor the man she’d held it toward. There was an awkwardness between the two of them, and she didn’t know to fix it.

“Regina?” Robin asked, stepping toward her.

She faced him at last. “Archie and I were together the night before the curse broke.”

He stared at her, his mouth partially open. At last, he said, "Huh..."

At that moment, Tinkerbell came in from the kitchen. She paused in her steps at the sight of them. “Oh, am I…?” She looked between Robin and Regina who were still staring at each other in disbelief. “I-I should go.”

“No!” said Regina quickly, turning from her husband to take Tink’s arm. “We’re going out tonight, and we’re going to have fun.”

"If I’m just going to be a bother,” Tink said. “I don’t have to-“

Regina held up a hand and shook her head. “Don’t think about it for a second, Tink. You are not a bother. Let’s just go out.”

Tinkbell was understandably confused and alarmed at the tension between Robin and Regina. Though neither of them knew how to properly explain it wasn’t her fault. The three of them sipped at the tea Tink had made. Regina tried to slip her encouraging smiles between her worries over her husband, who was still too lost in his own thoughts to speak to her.

The tension in the room died with Little John’s arrival. It was as though they all decided simultaneously to sit the effects of the curse behind them. Robin put on a cheerful face, and after embracing his friend, he held out a hand for his wife to take. Regina took it, smiling back, and tried to push away the worried knot in her stomach.

 

 

"I'm sorry about Tink," said Robin when Tinkerbell and John had left the table to try out the dance floor at the pub they were visiting.

"You’re sorry… about Tink?" asked Regina, not expecting those to be the first words he spoke about the issue.

Robin gave a sigh. "I've just been thinking ... about Richard. There were things he did that I'm not proud of…" He averted his gaze.

Regina thought of her life as Theodora. There were certainly things she had done that she wasn't proud of either - her solitary lifestyle, her crippling shyness, her one night with Archie that at the time had seemed like such a blessing.

She looked out onto the dance floor where she could see Tink and John dancing. "I think all of us," she told Robin. "Have things from our cursed lives we'd rather just put behind us."

"There were some things," Robin told her, reaching across the table to grab her hand. "I didn't think I was capable of."

Regina nodded. “I certainly never would have imagined cheating on my husband.”

Robin took a deep breath and gave her hand a squeeze. “I think… we should just forget about it.”

Regina nodded and returned the squeeze, but she couldn’t let it go that easily. "Does it matter so much what we did compared to why we did it?" She had thought she and Archie had been a good thing. And given the context of the moment, it seemed wrong to chastise it. They’d been two lonely people coming together to find something in each other. There was beauty in it. The curse, in breaking, had tainted that with the knowledge that she was already married. But did it still make it wrong when none of them had been completely in control of their decisions?

“I suppose not,” said Robin, his head titled as he mulled things over. “Astoria and Robert were together because we thought there was something there… We didn’t know about you. And you and Archie...” He straightened his head. “It’s strange to think how things might have turned out in another life, isn’t it?”

Regina nodded. And as she thought of how the curse had changed her, her mind switched gears to Ursula. If things had been different… Regina knew how easily she herself could have gone down Ursula’s same path. She wouldn't think of herself as being capable of it now, but the truth was she'd always had the capability. If Robin and Tink hadn’t entered her life…

Robin released her hand and leaned back in his chair. “You know how I feel about giving her second chances,” he said, knowing where his wife's thoughts had gone.

“But it’s like what happened with us.” Regina reasoned. “We had a whole other life-“

“Because we were cursed-“

“Ursla was cursed too,” she told him. “Cursed by loneliness, helpless, and desperation. Things that … that _I_ felt as Theodora, that led me to do things I never would have done otherwise. If Ursula could just-“

“Want to change,” Robin jumped in, sounding doubtful.

“She has Roland,” Regina supplied, and for the first time she was hopeful about it.

Maybe she did have a little of Theodora's insecurity in her. It terrified her most of the time not have Roland with her. She was scared of losing him again. But she kept pushing the fear down. Part of her really hoped that some love from Roland might push Ursula in the right direction, just as a little love from Tink and Robin had pushed her.

Robin sighed. “Yeah, she does.” He stood from his chair and walked around the table to offer Regina his hand. “We said we’d have fun.” He indicated the dance floor with a jerk of his head. “And I completely ruined the mood.”

She shook her head, but smiled at him and took his hand. They joined Tink and John on the dance floor, and for those few short hours it seemed as though all was as it had once been, as though the curse had never touched them.

 

 

Since the curse broke, Robin and Regina had hardly had any time alone to themselves. With everything going on with Ursula and Roland, they'd both been too preoccupied to devote time to each other. But, one serious conversation aside, the night out with Tink and Robin had helped them to relax, and the alcohol hadn't hurt.

Even so, when the two of them made it back to Regina’s apartment, one glance down the hall was enough to sober Regina. She’d been avoiding Archie, and she didn’t think it was fair to do so any longer, not if she wanted to move beyond the situation.

“Get ready without me,” she told Robin as she left him at the apartment door.

She walked down the hall and knocked. Insecurity seized her when Archie answered, and she sucked in a breath. “I-I just wanted to make sure that we’re okay. That there doesn’t have to be anything awkward-”

He looked away from her to glace at the floor. “It’s alright, Regina.”

“It’s not alright,” she told him. When he continued to look everywhere but at her, she added, “I’m sorry.”

This time he did look at her. “I’m not.”

She stared at him.

“Th-that didn’t come out right.” He turned to look intently at the door frame. “Wh-what I mean is…” He took a deep breath. “Maybe next time…” He looked at her again, but his gaze wondered as he spoke. “Maybe the next time I’m attracted to a woman, I’ll find the courage to say something instead of… waiting for her.”

His gaze had fallen to the floor, and Regina reached out to touch his arm in a friendly gesture. She’d had no idea Archie had spent as much time thinking of her as she might have spent thinking of Robert. They’d both been too shy to say anything to the people they’d admired. But at the end of the day, Regina had a husband and Archie was alone.

“I’m sure you will,” she told him, and she held hope for him that he would.

He lifted his head and gave a small smile as though to reassure her that he would be okay. “Goodnight, Regina.”

“Goodnight, Archie,” she said, removing her hand. As he closed the door, she couldn’t help feeling a little sad at what had been lost, at the prospect of two lonely people finding love.

But her thoughts returned to her husband who was waiting for her, and she fled down the hall. Robin was waiting for her on her bed, dressed in only his jeans and staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. Regina climbed on top of him, straddling his hips.

“Did I take too long?” she asked as she took in his lazy posture, wondering if the mood had been completely lost.

His mouth twitched in a poorly disguised smile. “Long enough for me to wonder if you’d rather a bespectacled man was lying here.”

“That isn’t funny,” Regina told him.

“Sorry,” he said. “I was trying to make light of the situation.”

Regina placed her hands on her hips. “Would you rather there was a certain blonde sitting on top of you?”

Robin’s smile faded. “You’re right. That isn’t funny.”

He reached for her and pulled her down to meet his lips. They kissed passionately before Robin rolled onto his side, taking Regina with him. He released her and she snuggled next to him.

“I’m sorry,” he told her. “And that’s the last time I’ll say it.”

“I’m sorry too,” she said. “So now, we both agree everything’s okay, and we’re not going to bring it up again?”

Robin nodded. “Agreed.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before reaching for her again and losing his troubled thoughts in long gentle kisses.

They couldn’t erase the effects of the curse on their lives. They would still have to wake in the morning and face what Ursula had done. They would still have worry about Roland. But that night, as they held each other and kissed the wounds the curse had inflicted, a sense of normalcy fell into place. And they knew, even though they couldn’t see the end, everything was going to be all right. 


	7. Caspian

Caspian could hear the call of the trident. He'd heard it before when he'd been a being of the sea. The trident had wanted him as its new owner, rejecting the power crazed man the Sea King had become.

He'd avoided the call then, not wanting any part of ruling. But the call was different this time, more urgent. In this non-magical world, the power of the trident was fading. It had been preserved while the curse was still active, but if he didn't claim it soon, its power would be lost forever.

He entered Gold's shop, following the trident's pull, and was greeted by a young woman with chestnut hair. "Can I help you find anything?"

"Just looking," he told her.

"Let me know if you want to buy anything," she said pleasantly, and then she hesitated. "Or if you find anything that used to belong to you ... we can discuss that, too."

She seemed a little stressed, and he offered her a smile before beginning his search. With the trident's call directing him, it didn't take long.

The trident was buried in a bowl of sea glass - the perfect merger of land and sea. The specific piece he needed was two inches long, and perfectly oval, having been expertly shaped by the ocean's currents. It was black in color - the color symbolizing all the mystery, beauty, and danger of the water. The stone was completely inconspicuous except for a crack at its center that zigzagged like lightening.

The legend was that Poseidon, god of the sea, had gifted the trident to the merpeople to protect his oceans and to allow them to act as ambassadors of the sea to the land dwellers. The trident had a mind of its own, giving it the power to choose the rightful leader. And it was calling to Caspian.

But Caspian hadn't sought out the trident on this day to claim the thrown. He'd come to protect the weapon, to find a way to send it back home, and to see if he could use it to save the woman he loved.

"I, Caspian, son of the Eastern Sea," he whispered to the stone. "Claim thee, as thou hath called."

The stone seemed to dissolve into the palm of his hand. Caspian turned his hand over to see the simple outline of a trident that had formed on the back of his hand like a tattoo. The lines were lighter than he remembered seeing on the Sea King.

The magic of the trident was fading. He didn't have much time.

 

 

Ursula opened her front door to find Caspian standing on the porch. She was surprised to see him there after their previous conversation. She'd hoped she'd gotten the point across that she didn't want to see him. "What do you want?" she asked.

He seemed unfazed by her coldness. "I know what you've been searching for," he told her. "And I know where you can find it."

Her interest piqued in spite of herself. She stepped toward him. "You'd show me where it is?"

"If you want it," he told her. "But I don't believe you do."

"And why is that?" she asked.

"Because of that boy who just left here with his parents." Caspian told her. "Do you really want to bring down the whole world and lose him in the process?"

Ursula hesitated. Robin and Regina had just left from picking up Roland from his short but wonderful visit with her. She and Roland had had breakfast together and had played again in the den. She was strongly reminded of the vow she’d made to put aside her anger.

But she couldn't help being tempted. She had wanted the trident ever since Rumpelstiltskin had told her of its power so many years ago. If she could just hold it in her hands for a moment...

"I want to see it," she told him.

Caspian hesitated. "Are you going to hurt someone?"

Ursla shook her head. She had no intention of breaking her promise. "I just want to see it."

Caspian glanced around them, making sure no one was watching. "Hold out your hand."

Ursula hesitated, but did as he asked. She couldn't help jumping slightly as he put his hand in hers. It had been a long time since she'd felt his touch. If Caspian noticed her reaction, she couldn't tell. His gaze was fixed on their clasped hands.

"The power given to me," he spoke. "I relinquish and pass on."

Ursula gasped as she saw the trident outline on the back of his hand fade. She lifted her own hand and saw the outline had appeared on the back of it. She'd had no idea the trident worked in such a way.

"How do I make it work?" she asked.

"You just think it," he told her. "And it will follow."

Ursula imagined the trident in the form that was most familiar to her. And in her hand, formed a long golden staff stretching her full height with three prongs on the end - the trident she had heard of in legend.

She thought of the Sea King, how he would love to be holding his weapon once again. She smiled with relish as she tried to envision his face if he could see her with it.

And then, it was like she wasn't imagining anything at all. The trident was granting her a vision, taking her across town to where Lucian sat on a bench by the docks looking out into the sea he yearned to join but couldn't.

Ursula found herself wanting to go to him. She wanted to shove the trident in his face.

Before she knew, her feet were moving. Caspian was yelling at her, coming toward her. But she used the trident to blast him back. Power was surging through her once again. It had been so long since she'd had magic at her fingertips. She'd forgotten how good it felt. She was not going to waste the opportunity that had been given to her. She would kill the Sea King. She would destroy him for everything he'd ever done to her.

People fled before her as she walked through town. With power radiating from her and the look of determination on her face, she was the Evil Queen they had always known. But she paid no attention to them. She only had eyes for one man.

She savored Lucian's look of horror as she advanced upon him. This was what she had wanted for so long. This was how she wanted him to look as she killed him. Her promise to Roland was completely forgotten.

"Hello, Lucian," she said, shoving the trident toward his chest. The man cowered before her, too afraid to try to run. "You made my life a living hell, and now I'll make your death one."

She pulled the trident back, ready to strike, but Caspian had finally caught up with her. He stepped in front of her, getting between her and her victim.

"Ursula, stop!" He grasped the trident and tried to pull it from her.

"Get out of the way," she snapped. She tried to use the trident to blast to him back, but she couldn't get it to work.

"He's my father!" Caspian told her.

And with that one fact that she had never known, Ursula felt all the fight suddenly drain from her. She stumbled back from Caspian, the trident dissolving from its solid form.

"You're _father_?" she breathed, staring at him. In their one conversation they'd had since Eric's birth, though Caspian had mentioned the Sea King's injustice, he had never told her he was his son.

She couldn't go through with her plan now. And she felt the anger welling up inside her with nowhere to go. She screamed up at the sky. All of it was wasted -  _years_  of plotting and planning had been completely pointless. She could not kill Caspian's father - she would not.

She strode toward Caspian and shoved her hand into his. She didn't want the trident anymore. She wanted nothing to do with it. And without any words at all, just her own desire, she felt the power leave her. The mark of the trident faded from her hand.

And then she turned on her heel and walked away.

 

 

Caspian watched Ursula as she left. The look on her face as she'd shoved the trident into his hand had reminded him of how, even with the curse broken, he couldn't seem to get anything right.

He hadn't been there for her while Eric was growing and she'd needed him. He hadn't been there for her when Eric had died, nor any time after. And now that he had the opportunity to try to help rebuild her life, he's screwed up again. He'd thought showing her the trident would help her to realize how much she didn't want it. Instead, he'd only fueled her desire.

He could hear his father laughing behind him.

"Shut up," he said, spinning around. "Just shut up."

Lucian stopped laughing, but the grin remained on his face. "That's no way to speak to your father."

Caspian felt his own anger boiling. He strode to his father and grabbed him by his jacket. "You kept me from being with the woman I loved. And when I did make contact, you tried to kill my son - your grandson - is that any way to treat your own child?"

"Unhand me!" his father demanded, ignoring his son’s words and struggling to get free.

But Caspian was stronger, the power of the trident helping. Caspian lifted his father from the bench and, continuing to hold him by his jacket, carried him over to the edge of the dock when he tossed him into the water.

His father thrashed around. He didn't know how to swim in human form.

Caspian sighed. His relationship with his father was complicated. He felt anger and disgust, but there was love there as well. As much as part of him hated his father, he still couldn't let him drown. He gave a wave of his hand, and his father resurfaced with a tail instead of legs.

Caspian relinquished the trident's power, the sea glass appearing in his hand, which he tossed to his father, who caught it.

"It won't answer to you anymore," Caspian told him. "Take it home with you. It will choose a new master."

"You're not coming?" asked his father.

Caspian shook his head. "No."

"You'd choose that land woman over me?" asked his father. "Over your own people?"

"The trident will choose a capable leader," Caspian told him. "You don't need me, nor should you pretend to care. I've let that woman down my whole life, and I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm not going to let her turn into you."

His father gave a huff but no other response. Then he turned, his green tail flashing in the air before he vanished. Caspian wasn't sure if he'd miss him or not.

 

 

Ursula was in a panic. What she had done? She'd felt the power, the magic, coursing through her again, and she'd gone with it. She'd promised to be better for Roland, but at the mere mention of magic, she'd crumbled.

And all those people had seen her walking through the streets. Surely, someone had gone to Snow and Charming. She'd been warned if she tried to hurt someone, she'd be forced across the town line.

But she hadn't hurt anyone. She'd tried, but she'd backed down. Would that be enough of a defense? Would she be allowed to stay?

Who was she kidding? She tried to  _kill_  someone! They weren't going to let her off easy for that. And she'd only backed down because Caspian had caught her off guard. She'd been fully prepared and had fully intended to kill Lucian.

No, she wouldn't get off this time. They'd send her away. She'd never see Roland again. Oh, Roland! What would they tell him? What would he think of her?

Ursula ran around her house, gathering items to pack in a suitcase. She was not going to wait to be sentenced. She'd leave of her own accord. It was better this way. The only way to rid her of her anger and desire for power was to forget it had ever been a part of her. She'd cross the line herself, and on the other side she'd become a brand new person, someone she'd be happy to be.

As she got into her car, she noticed Roland's car seat in the back. She'd been happy during the curse. Roland had made her life beautiful every day. Could she bring herself to leave without him?


	8. Running

Regina sat on the couch with a book in her lap. Robin had gone out to gather a few things for lunch. Roland was taking a nap in his room.

She was surprised when the doorbell rang. It was too early for Robin to be back.

"Ursula," she said when she opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I talk to Roland?" she asked. She looked stressed.

"You just had him," Regina told her.

"I know," said Ursula, her face taking on a pleading look. "But I really need to talk to him."

Regina closed the door an inch or so. "Ursula, I really don't think that's a good idea."

Ursula shoved the door open, hesitated, and then grabbed Regina by her shirt. She pulled Regina into the door frame where she hit her head and clasped to the ground.

"Sorry," Ursula said before stepping over the threshold.

 

 

"Mommy!" said Roland excitedly as Ursula reached into the bed and picked him up, waking him.

"Hey, Roland," she said, holding him to her. "We're going on a little trip. Would you like that?"

"Yeah!" he said.

"Okay. Let's go." She tried to shield him from the sight of Regina lying on the floor. In hindsight, she should have moved her. Roland spotted her easily and started to cry.

"Mommy!" he said. "What happened to mommy?"

"She's fine," Ursula tried. "She’s just taking a nap."

"Mommy!" Roland yelled, Ursula's words ineffective. "Mommy!"

It was a struggle to get Roland into the car with how he was kicking and screaming. As Ursula tried to fasten him into the seat, he tried to hit and bite her, which he had never done before.

"That is  _enough_ ," she told him, finally getting his seat belt buckled.

"What did you do to my mommy?" he asked her.

"I'm your mother," she told him, her frustration getting the better of her. "Do you understand?  _I'm_  your mother."

"You're not!" Roland yelled at her. "You're not my mommy! You're evil!"

Ursula felt like she'd been slapped in the face. She had nothing to say. She simply slammed the car door shut and climbed into the driver's seat.

Robin spotted the car as they were pulling out of the parking lot. There was no doubt in Ursula's mind that he could see Roland through the windows. He dropped the bag he was carrying and ran after them, but he couldn't keep up as the car increased speed. Ursula watched in her rearview mirror as he finally gave up and ran toward the apartments, presumably to check on his wife.

 

 

"What did you do to my mommy?" Roland demanded as they drew closer to the edge of town and he'd had time to calm down.

"She'll be fine," Ursula told him, though in truth she wasn't sure.

"Where are we going?" Roland asked.

Ursula sighed. She wanted Roland with her, but she didn't want to do it like this. She didn't want to have to force him into it.

She brought the car slowly to a stop. They had reached the woods. The edge of town wasn't very far away.

"Remember when you didn't know your parents?" Ursula asked him, turning around in her seat to face. "Remember when I was your only mother? Remember how much fun we had? Don't you want to go back to that?"

"I want my real mom and daddy," he said.

Ursula felt the frustration build. She needed Roland on her side, but all he'd done was fight her the whole way. " _I'm_  your mother!" she told him.

"No!" said Roland, and with an intelligence she didn't realize he'd possessed, he undid his seat belt and slid out of his chair.

"Roland!" Ursula shouted at him.

She tried to grab him, but she couldn't reach him from her twisted position. He pushed open the car door and ran out.

"Roland!" Ursula undid her seat belt and flew from the car, running into the woods after the boy.

But Roland was small. There were plenty of places for him to hide, and he knew how to use them. He'd always been a smart boy, she just hadn't realized how much.

 

 

Ursula lay as still as possible inside a hollowed log she’d found. She could hear the people around her as they searched for Roland, calling his name, their footsteps crunching the underbrush.

She had made the call to the sheriff's office, letting them know Roland had run off. She hadn't known what else to do. She hadn't been able to find him herself, and she was afraid of the dangers he might get into. Besides, she knew he'd never come to her, not any more.

Ursula choked back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. She'd ruined so much this day. If there had been any possibility of Roland still loving her after her attack on the Sea King, that chance had been completely squandered now.

But she couldn't think on what she'd done. She couldn't let the emotions overcome her. She had to stay silent and still. She could only imagine what would happen if she was found.

After what felt like hours, she heard the joyful cry and everyone around her took it up. Roland had been found.

The footsteps started to lead away from her, and Ursula let out a sigh of relief both for Roland and herself. Everything would be fine now. Roland was safe, and as soon as she was able, she'd be getting out of here. But she couldn't get up yet. She needed to wait and make sure everyone had left.

She wasn't sure what she'd do once she was out of the log. Leaving town was still an option, and as chaotic as the day had been, she knew she could benefit from a plan. But she was exhausted from the emotional turmoil. And in the cramped musty space, it was hard to think.

She closed her eyes, and let her mind go blank.

 

 

Robin took Roland tightly into his arms, emotion over flooding him. He'd almost lost both members of his family today.

But Roland was safe, and so was Regina. They were all going to be okay.

He looked up from hugging Roland to where Sheriff Graham was standing by his police car and talking to a group of volunteers. He was reluctant to let Roland go, but now that he had been found, there were other matters that needed to be taken care of.

Robin passed Roland to Snow and Charming, who were standing by him. "Take him to his mother," he told them. "She should be awake now." They nodded and took Roland away.

He walked over to Graham, who dismissed the volunteers. "I'm glad we found him," he said.

"Me too," said Robin, holding out his hand. "Thank you for your help."

Graham shook his hand. "No problem."

Robin gestured to where Ursula's car sat just ahead of them. "What do we do about her?"

"Well, we could wait her out," said Graham, walking toward the car.

"You'll think she'll come back?"

"We know she made the call from the woods from her cell, and it wasn't long after that when I got here." Graham circled the car like he was looking for something. "I don't think she got far, and it's getting dark. Sooner or later, she'll have to come back."

Graham stooped down to examine the side of the road. "Or ... we could try to track her."

"You see something?" asked Robin, stepping next to Graham.

"Here," he said, pointing at some trampled grass. "That's Roland. The impression is small. But over here," he pointed to another area. "The impression is much larger. That's Ursula."

Robin was impressed. He knew about tracking, but Graham's skills seemed superior to his own. He wouldn't have been able to distinguish between the markings if Graham hadn't pointed them out, and even then, he wasn't sure he had the skill to follow them into the woods.

"You think she's still out there?" Robin asked.

"It's possible," said Graham, nodding thoughtfully. "But," He got to his feet. "If we follow her trail, we risk her circling around and getting back to the car before we notice."

Robin turned to look behind him. Most of the volunteers had gone home already. Their job was done now that Roland had been found. He felt it would be asking too much for the remaining volunteers to stay and track Ursula down - though he imagined some of them would be more than glad to do it. But, it was getting dark. They'd brought flashlights just in case the hunt for Roland took them into the night, but they had all hoped to avoid that. Wondering around in the woods in the dark wasn't necessarily the safest environment.

He tried to imagine what Ursula might be thinking at that moment. She'd lost Roland and her car. Would she try to get to Roland again? Or would she go back for the car first? How far could she get on foot, and where would she go? She didn't exactly have friends in Storybrooke. What would her next step be?

"I suggest," said Graham, reading his thoughts. "You and your family stay at the hospital tonight. Then at least there will be other eyes looking out for you."

Robin nodded. The hospital had wanted to keep Regina overnight anyway. "Will you stay here?"

Graham nodded. "I'll move my car down the road a bit. Then we'll see if she comes back."

"When you catch her..."

"I'll take her into custody," said Graham. "You all can decide what becomes of her from there."

Robin nodded. That sounded good enough for him. Though in truth, he wanted nothing more than to send Ursula over the line as soon as possible. The sooner she was out of town, the sooner he wouldn't have to worry about his family.

"Let me talk to her," came a voice from behind him, and Robin turned to look at a man he'd never seen before. Black hair swept the top of his head and hung into blue eyes.

"Who are you?" asked Robin.

"Caspian," said the man, holding out his hand. "I'm glad we found your boy."

Robin took his hand and was about to thank him for helping when the name suddenly resonated with him. "Caspian?" he said. "The  _merman_?"

"Yeah," said Caspian simply. He gave a shrug. "I have legs now."

Robin looked him up and down. He remembered Regina mentioning Caspian a very long time ago. He had been Eric's father and the merman Ursula had loved.

"What do you want?" asked Robin, unsure as to the motivations of the man in front of him.

"Give me the opportunity to talk to her," Caspian pleaded, looking between Robin and Graham. "I know what she's done is terrible, but I feel partially responsible." He explained quickly that he had found a "magic item," that he had thought to show it to Ursula to convince her she didn't need it, and that Ursula had become overwhelmed. "She's just scared." Caspian explained. "She thought you'd all be against her, so she went to extremes."

"And that's reason enough for us to be lenient with her?" asked Robin, slightly irritated. "We warned her of her choices. We've given her chance after chance to change, long after I lost sight of why we were bothering."

"Please," Caspian told him. "I don't think she wants to hurt anyone. She just doesn't know how to make peace."

"And why do you think this time will be any different?" Robin asked.

"Because I'm here," Caspian told him. "She needed someone to support her, and I couldn't be that before. But I'm not backing down this time."

Robin was about to tell him he didn't see how that made any difference when he heard his wife's voice in his head. How many times had she told him that she could have ended up in Ursula's shoes? How many times had she said it was through his love and support that she had changed?  _Maybe with Caspian things could be different._

Robin cursed inwardly. He wanted Ursula gone. He wanted to be able to love his wife and son without worrying about the Evil Queen coming to destroy them.

But Regina would want to give Ursula this chance.

Robin turned in a circle, debating with himself. At length, he groaned. "Okay," he said reluctantly, looking at Caspian. "You'll get your chance, but I am warning you," He raised a finger. "This is the last one. If she does  _anything_  to anyone, I don't care who is against me - you, my wife, the whole damn town - I will force her over the line myself."

Caspian gave a nod. "Understood."

Robin waved at Graham to follow him, eager to get away from the decision he still wasn't pleased he had made. They headed down the road, making sure all the volunteers were on their way home.

"So, I'll be headed back to the office?" asked Graham as he got into his car, making sure he understood the conversation correctly.

Robin gave a nod. "I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass."

Graham gave a nod like he understood. “Well… If it does, you know where to find me.”

Robin nodded in thanks, grateful that someone had his back.

Graham put his car into reverse and turned around in the road to head back to town. Robin hesitated as he got into his own car. It wasn't too late for him to change his mind. He could tell Caspian to forget everything.

But his wife's voice in his head wouldn't let him.


	9. Revival

Regina was asleep as Robin entered the hospital room. Roland was curled up at her side in bed, and Charming and Snow sat in chairs along the wall. The two of them looked up as Robin came in, whispered their goodbyes, and left as Robin thanked them yet again for their help. He sat down in one of the chairs they had occupied, and only then did Regina stir.

She had a bandage around her head from where she'd hit the door frame. She'd suffered a concussion and had needed a few stitches, but otherwise seemed fine. The doctor had wanted to keep her overnight just to be safe.

"Did you find her?" she asked him groggily. Roland remained fast asleep next to her.

Robin took her hand and shook his head. "Caspian's looking for her."

"Caspian?" she said, raising her head from her pillow. "He's in Storybrooke?"

Robin nodded. "I left it in hands." His thought of,  _like you would have wanted me to,_  remained unspoken.

Regina let out a long sigh and leaned back again her pillow. She closed her eyes, looking peaceful and relaxed, ready to drift off to sleep.

"Good," was all she said.

 

 

Ursula didn't know how long she'd slept, but it was dark when she opened her eyes. She listened for a while before crawling from her hiding place. She couldn't hear anyone moving around her, and from the lack of light, she could tell there was no one nearby carrying a flashlight.

It was a difficult trek back to the car. She wasn't entirely sure she was going in the right direction, and without any light to go by, she kept tripping over roots and brambles.

But eventually, she found the road, and she walked back up the hill to her car. She was surprised no one had moved it, and she turned around in a circle, looking for anyone who might be waiting for her in the shadows. But no one appeared. At last, she climbed into the driver's seat and put the key into the ignition. She turned on the headlights and drove the short distance remaining to the town line where she stopped just before it.

This was it. She had one decision before her, and after it there would be no turning back. Was she sure this was something she wanted to do?

There was nothing left for her in Storybrooke, she was certain. Roland would never want to see her again. And if she'd ever wanted to mend her relationship with Regina, she was certain it would never happen now. She had no desire to build a relationship with Snow or Caspian.

It was clear she had no reason to stay, and yet going forward felt wrong. If she crossed the line she'd forget everything she'd ever done - all of her fighting and all of her struggles. While there seemed to be a certain freedom in that, she also felt she'd be losing a part of herself. She'd achieved much in her life, overcome so many obstacles. Would she remember how strong a woman she was if she left?

Would she remember Eric?

Ursula leaned her head against the steering wheel and let the sob escape her throat. Everything she'd ever done, she'd done for him. She'd turned to magic to help support him. She'd gone to Rumpelstiltskin to give him a better life. She'd hunted Snow White for killing him. She'd cursed the land to punish everyone who hadn't been there for him, everyone who'd said she had gone too far in trying to give him the world.

Could she really turn her back on him like everyone else? Could she let herself forget he ever existed?

Ursula grasped the steering wheel as she cried. She had nowhere to go. She found herself unable to move forward or back. Ahead, she'd lose her son forever. Behind, she'd lose herself.

She jumped at the knock at her window, certain it was Charming or Robin who had appeared to carry out her punishment for her. But it wasn't either of them.

Anger coursing through her, she wiped her eyes, flung open the door of the car, and stepped outside. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you," said Caspian simply.

"Well, I don't want to talk to you," she told him. She pointed down the road. "Just leave me alone! You're good at that, as I remember."

Caspian shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere this time."

Ursula scoffed. She didn't want to put up with this. She turned to get back into the car, but he grabbed her hand.

"Let go of me!" she demanded, pulling her hand from his as she turned back around to face him. "What do you want from me? You think you can just walk back into my life now? After all this time? You were never there! You never came when we needed you."

"I want to fix it," he told her.

"You can't fix it!" she shouted at him. "You can't! Eric is dead! He's dead!" A sob escaped her throat. "Our son-" She was overcome with tears and couldn't continue.

Caspian wished he could comfort her, but as he stepped toward her, she pushed him away.

"I want to help," he said uselessly.

"How could you possibly help?" she said, wiping her eyes. "What could you possibly do right now to help?"

He realized then that he didn't know. He just wanted to support her. "I want to try." He said. "There has to be something ... something ... you need that I could give you."

She gave a sniff, silencing the remainder of her tears. "I doubt you could help me with a do over."

No, he couldn’t help her with that. "What would you change?" he asked her curiously.

She gave a sigh. What wouldn't she change might have been a better question. For starters, she wouldn't have kidnapped Roland. She wouldn't have tried to kill the Sea King. If she had just kept her promise to Roland, she'd still be on solid ground right now.

But her desire for change went back much further than that. She wouldn't have cursed everyone. Really, where had that gotten her? Trapped in a town with everyone she hated. She wouldn't have pursued the throne. She wouldn't have tried to cure Eric's land sickness.

"I wouldn't have gone to Rumpelstiltskin," she told him, ending at the scenario she found to have been her best lost opportunity. "I would have stayed with Robin and Regina."

Eric had been such a happy little boy. He'd loved living in the forest despite his illness. It was her own pride, her need to be able to give him everything that had made the place unsuitable for them. They'd had food, shelter, friends... They hadn't truly needed anything else. She had just demanded it be so.

She'd been selfish. She'd decided it wasn't good enough. She'd cast aside the only good thing to happen to her since Eric's birth and had exchanged it for a life of preying on other people, caring as little for them as she'd thought they'd cared for her. But that life had gotten her nowhere, and now the whole thing seemed empty and meaningless.

"I don't want to hurt anyone," she told him. "I just want ... my little boy."

The tears overcame her once again. If only she had been content, if only she could have accepted the help that had been offered to her. If she hadn't thrown it all aside and turned against the very people who'd been trying to help her, Eric wouldn't have died so young.

It was then, as she stood between Caspian and the car and contemplated her life choices that she realized it wasn't the Sea King or even Snow who were responsible for her son's death.

The pain of the truth wrecked her. She'd been fighting against it for long. She'd blamed other people to keep herself from facing the mere thought of it. But now, when she found herself helpless and with everything to lose, she simply had no strength left.

She had killed her son. It had been her own pride and ill content that had drove her to the extremes that had led to his death. She was responsible. Snow might have fired the arrow, but it had been Ursula's maliciousness that had caused Snow to act. It was her own greed that had driven her to leave Robin and Regina and attack the castle. Eric's death was her fault, and no one else's.

"Eric." His name came out like a desperate plea for forgiveness. She slid down the side of the car, landing on the asphalt as she cried into her hands. She wanted nothing more than to fade into the darkness around her and cease all existence. She didn't know how to live with herself any longer.

Caspian didn't know what to do. He couldn't do nothing with her lying in front of him like that. But he didn't think she'd let him comfort her either. He hesitated at first, but her sobs didn't subside, so he stepped forward.

She resisted him at first, trying to push him away. But she had so little strength left that her efforts were ineffective. Caspian eventually took her into his arms, and to her surprise, she discovered - as his tears fell on the back of her neck - that he was crying as well.

"It's my fault," he told her, as though had been reading her thoughts. "I should have been there for you both. It's my fault."

She wanted to tell him he was wrong, that the responsibility for Eric's life had fallen to her after he hadn't returned. She pulled away from him to look into his face to tell him this, but the words wouldn't come.

She was shocked at the pain she saw reflected in his eyes. She felt like she was looking at someone who knew exactly what she was feeling. And in that moment she realized that she wasn't alone, that there was someone who understood exactly what she was going through, someone who would fight on her side. She hadn't had that, not since her parents had thrown her out on the streets after learning she was pregnant with Eric.

Ursula felt a different emotion filling her, one she hadn't possessed in a very long time. She didn't recognize it right away, so she didn't have time to fight against it. Before she knew what she was doing, she pulled Caspian toward her and pressed her lips against his. He was surprised at first, and so was she, but they eventually gave in to the love they both needed and had denied themselves for so long.

Their kisses were mixed with salty tears as they took each other's pain and shared it. And then, little by little, they started to ease it, to transform it into something else. That night, neither of them would remember exactly how they made it into the car or drove back to Ursula’s house or walked through the front door. But they would remember the bed and the sheets and those precious blissful moments when they both held the hope that maybe there was something happier waiting for them just around the corner.


	10. Mending

Ursula didn't wake Caspian when she woke the next morning. She slipped on a set of pajamas and then headed downstairs to make a pot of tea. Her night with Caspian had been every bit as intense and magical as the night she'd first met him. And yet, though she finally felt there was someone on her side and someone who cared about her, it hadn't solved everything. There was much she had to consider and think through, so she wasn't in any hurry to get the day started.

She took her cup of tea, along with a second cup she had made for Caspian in case he woke, and sat on the sofa in her study. She'd finished half of her cup when Caspian joined her wearing just a pair of trousers. He paused in the doorway and picked up a photo of Roland she had sitting on a stand.

"The resemblance..." he said.

Ursula nodded. "I wasn't trying to replace Eric," she told him. "I just saw Roland, and I couldn't... I was trying to fill the void I felt."

Caspian nodded like he understood and sat the picture down. Then he joined her on the couch where he put his hand on hers.

She stared at him for a few moments, taking in the love in his face. She couldn't express how grateful she was for his presence, but at the same time...

"I'm not sure keeping me from crossing the line was the best idea," she said, still clutching her tea cup. "I couldn't handle myself around the trident. One mention of power might be enough to send me over the edge again." That was her fear, that last night had all been for nothing, that sooner or later they'd be sending her over the line regardless.

"You wouldn't kill my father," he told her. "There's apparently some restraint there."

"I didn't know he was your father," she explained, shaking her head. Then she sighed. "Casting the curse requires the heart of something you love." It was difficult to explain this to him, to reveal the darkest side of her. But she needed him to understand. "After Eric's death and the anger I felt toward you ... all I had were my parents. Even though they'd thrown me out, I figured after all those years as their daughter there still had to be love there. I wrote them when Eric was born and then every year on his birthday, but I never heard back. When it came time to cast the curse, I went to visit them.

"I didn't have any plans," she told him. "I honestly didn't know what I'd do. I think part of me was hoping I'd never have to cast the curse. I arrived to find just my father, my mother having died six months prior. When I told him about Eric, he said he was glad. He said having a child had held me back from everything he'd thought me capable of achieving. And even though I'd become the Queen, the fact that I still held on to Eric was proof he was still getting in my way."

Ursula gave a shaking breath. "I was so  _angry_." She turned her face from Caspian because she was afraid to show him the emotion she felt welling up. "I just wanted to ... tear him apart." Even now, she could recall the anger she felt, and she struggled to push it down. At last, she turned back to Caspian. "It was finished before I even knew I had started. I don’t even remember most of it, but… I killed my own father."

She sat her cup of tea on the table in front of her, not wanting it anymore. "I couldn't kill your father because I knew what it was like when mine died." She looked up at him. "I think you loved and hated your father just as much as I did mine."

He didn't say anything, just took her into his arms, and she knew that she was right.

"It wasn't always that way," he said at last, still holding on to her. "I have good memories of my father."

"So do I," she told him, a single tear running down her face.

He pulled back from her, and wiped the tear away.

"It was my mother dying that changed everything," he explained, settling near her. She let herself lean against his bare chest, taking comfort there. "She was a wonderful woman. She was one of our ambassadors, working for better relations between our people and the humans."

He let out a long sigh. "She ran into the wrong group one day. They raped her, and then followed her out into the ocean on their boats. They hunted her like a fish, and when they caught her, they cut her up like one." Ursula looked up at him, horrified by the story he was telling. But he wasn't looking at her. His gaze was fixed straight ahead of him, not really looking at anything at all. His face was stoic, expressionless. She could only imagine what emotion the retelling was causing him to relive.

"I didn't see her body," he continued. "I was too young. I was kept away. But my father..." She saw the look of empathy that changed his face, folding it as he took an unsteady breath. "I think he just went crazy. He forbade our people from going to the surface. He became angry at everything and everyone. For a while, there were times when I could coax him into reason." He started caressing her arm with his thumb from where his hand was resting. "That's why I thought when we met," he said, finally looking down at her. There was warmth in his eyes, and he smiled at her. "That he'd let me see you, that we wouldn't have to be apart." He paused. "But I think he saw my love for you as a betrayal of my mother's memory."

"I had no idea," she told him.

“How could you?” He pulled her closer to him. "I saw you every day that you lived by the shore. You just didn't see me. I didn't want you to."

"I know," she said. If they'd initiated contact, the Sea King would have tried to kill her or Eric. He had tried once.

"I kept hoping," he continued. "I could bring my father around, that he'd let me see you." He shook his head. "He just got worse every year, and I never got to know my son."

His voice choked on the last word, and the tears rolled down his face. She wiped them away as he'd done for her. And she realized in that moment that he held as much pain in his past as she did. They leaned toward each other until their foreheads touched, united by love and grief.

"I think we just have to let go of the past," she told him. She knew firsthand the effects of holding on. She'd destroyed everyone around her, and nearly herself. "If we're ever going to have a future."

"Do you think we can?" he asked her, lifting his head from hers and taking her hand. "Build a future? You and me?"

She looked into his face. "I hope so." She hadn't dared to hope in such a long time.

They came together with kisses and gentle arms that pulled each other closer. Then they settled into the couch, Caspian lying on his back with Ursula over top of him. They lay like that for a time, enjoying the comfort of one another.

But then Caspian could tell Ursula's mind was wandering. "What is it?" he asked.

"They'll never forgive me," she said after a moment, speaking about the residents of Storybrooke.

Caspian pulled his arms around her, letting her settle against his chest, hoping she could find more reassurance there. "We'll just have to try."

 

 

Ursula stopped by the hospital, wanting to speak with Regina. She was surprised to find Roland and Robin there as well - Roland was fast asleep in his mother's arms.

Robin took on a defensive stance at the sight of her, grabbing onto the arm rest of the chair, ready to rise. Ursula raised a hand, palm outward, to let him know it wasn't necessary.

"I came to apologize," she said simply, her eyes traveling over to Regina. "Are you all right?"

Regina gave a nod. "They wanted to keep me over night just in case."

"I'm glad it was ... nothing serious," Ursula said, wondering if her words held any meaning for the two of them.

She turned her gaze to Robin, and she could tell from his expression that he didn't trust her. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was, but she doubted there was anything she could say to make him understand.

It was fair, though. She'd created this mess herself, and she'd have to clean it up on her own.

"I ... I want to be better," she told the two of them, looking at Regina because it was easier. "I'm going to try."

"Good luck," said Regina sincerely.

Ursula gave one last look at Roland's sleeping form. She didn't know if she'd ever see him again or if he'd ever forgive her for her actions. But if that was how things had to be, then she was prepared to face the consequences.

Being better was going to involve some hard work. She might as well start here.

She turned from the room and went out the door, leaving Roland behind.

 

 

She visited Gold's shop next. Caspian had offered to go with her during her visits today, but Ursula had felt these visits were something she needed to do on her own. If she was going to better herself, the motivation to do so would have to come from her.

But she couldn't help feeling a little disheartened when she saw Gold standing at the counter.

"Can I help you?" he asked with a sly grin.

Ursula took a breath. "I want to talk to Belle."

She took some pleasure in seeing that her words had taken him aback. He recovered quickly enough. "I don't think she wants to speak with you."

"She's a grown woman," Ursula retorted. "Why don't you ask her and let her decide for herself?"

Gold hesitated, but then he turned and went into the back room from which he and Belle emerged a few minutes later. Gold remained standing by the door as Belle approached.

"You wanted to speak with me?" she asked, folding her hands in front of her.

It was Ursula's turn to hesitate. Her eyes shifted to Gold. She didn't want to have this conversation in front of him. But she had no other choice.

"You've never been hostile toward me," she said, looking only at Belle. "Aren't you..?" She took a breath. "Aren't you angry about ... what I did to you?"

Belle looked down at the counter and rolled her lips thoughtfully. "Sometimes," she admitted. And then she sighed and looked up at Ursula. "You locked me away for years - decades! I lost ... so much of my life." Tears sprang to her eyes and she tore her gaze away.

Gold made a movement toward her, but Belle held up a hand to motion that she was all right. Gold stepped back to his spot at the doorway.

"Yes," said Belle at last as she found her composure. "I'm angry ... and a thousand other emotions. But," she looked up at Ursula again. "If I let those feelings consume me ... if I spent my time lashing out at you ... seeking revenge against you as you have against other people, where would I be?"

Ursula felt something within her soften a little. This was why she had come, why she had known she needed to speak with Belle. The girl had every reason to lash out at her, but had never done so. She was certain Belle had some insight on life that she was lacking.

"I have a life," Belle told her. "Or a chance at one." She glanced back at Gold and smiled before turning back to Ursula. "If I spent all my time and energy on getting back at you, I would lose everything else I was trying to gain. It's just not worth that."

Ursula thought of Caspian. There was a chance there, an opportunity to have something she'd always wanted. He'd stayed by her this time, but if she didn't make an effort to change, she knew it would all fall apart. The only problem was she wasn't sure if change was possible.

"How do you do it?" she asked the woman in front her, who seemed to be the perfect image of composure. "How to you keep it all from ... from coming undone?"

"Well," said Belle simply. "Counseling helps."

"Counseling?" Ursula asked.

Belle nodded. "With Dr. Hopper."

Ursula remembered Dr. Hopper coming by her house one of those first evenings after the curse had broken and offering his services. She'd turned him away then, but now it didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Ursula looked up at the woman in front of her, whom had helped her so much in this short conversation. "For what it's worth," she tried. "I am sorry."

Belle gave a soft gasp, like she never would have expected to hear those words. Tears came to her eyes again.

"And thank you," Ursula concluded. Not knowing what else to do, she turned and left the shop, leaving Belle in Gold's care.

Ursula felt her own tears welling in her eyes as she walked down the street, heading for Dr. Hopper’s office. If she was going to change - really change this time - if she was going let herself hope for a future, if she could somehow repair the damage she’d done, if she could learn to forgive the hurt that had been done to her, she was going to need all the help she could get.


	11. Epilogue

"It's a girl."

The nurse laid the baby across Ursula's chest, and she looked down into the face of her and Caspian's second child. Like Eric, she had inherited her father's brilliant blue eyes. She had her mother's nose and smile. And she had just enough hair to suggest hints of red.

Caspian leaned down and kissed the baby on the forehead. There were tears in his eyes. It wasn't difficult for Ursula to imagine what this moment meant for him. It had been hard for her to birth Eric on her own. This time, with their second child, she'd been so grateful for Caspian's presence and the work of the hospital staff. The support system had meant a lot to her. And this time, she knew was different for Caspian as well. He'd witnessed Eric's birth but had been unable to participate in any way. He hadn't even been able to make himself known, only able to watch from the sidelines. To have been with Ursula through the whole process, to hold his child in his arms... Ursula found herself tearing up at the thought of it.

Yes, this time had been very different.

When everything was ready, Robin, Regina, Roland, Snow, and Charming came into the room. Ursula was still working on patching her relationship with Regina and Snow. She and Regina had never really been friends, though they had both wanted to be. They had become much closer over the past months, but things were easier with Regina than with Snow.

It was hard for Ursula to see Snow as more than the woman whose arrow had killed Eric. But she was trying. She had to remind herself that she was, or at least had been, Snow's stepmother. There was a relationship there to be formed and for forgiveness to be granted on both sides. It just took work, just as it was taking work to win over the women's husbands. Luckily, Caspian was helping on that front.

Roland, on the other hand, had taken no work at all. Children, apparently, had a much higher capacity for forgiveness than adults. He came right up to the bed and leaned over the railing to see the baby in Ursula's arms.

"What's her name?" asked Snow.

"Ariel," said Caspian.

Roland dropped a kiss on top of Ariel's head.

Ursula knew Roland would want to see Ariel when she visited him for their supervised weekly visits. She wasn't sure how she'd be able to explain that she wouldn't be able to bring the baby for a while. They were both going to need a lot of rest.

She looked up at Caspian who kissed her gently. Ursula wasn't sure what the future held for the two of them, though she had high hopes. For now, she had a family and people who were almost friends - things she hadn't had for a very long time. Whatever lay ahead for them, she was looking forward to it. And she was learning to let things fall into place rather than force them. It was all hard work, but with her support system – Caspian, Dr. Hopper, and Roland – she was growing more and more confident that she would make it through.

 

 

"We've had a lot of changes recently," said Robin as he and his family left the hospital. Roland walked ahead of his parents.

"Hmm," said Regina with a nod. Snow's daughter had relocated her family to Storybrooke so they could be near each other. People all over town were adjusting to the idea of spending their lives here and never returning to the Enchanted Forrest. Regina had to agree that it wasn't such a terrible prospect, especially without the worry of the Evil Queen or Rumpelstiltskin coming down upon them. Magic was something she had no problem doing without.

"What would you think," asked Robin, slipping his hand into hers. "Of getting to work on expanding our own family?"

Regina beamed at him. They had tossed the idea between them a few times recently, but hadn't truly decided. Life had certainly become more stable for them than ever these past few months. The timing seemed right.

"What would you like?" Regina asked him, turning her gaze to Roland. "Another boy or a girl?"

"Whichever," Robin told her, laughter in his voice. "So long as they are as beautiful and intelligent as their mother."

Regina smiled, but said nothing. Just then, as they turned down the sidewalk, Regina caught sight of Archie on the other side of the street. He waved to her as they passed in opposite directions. Regina almost missed that there someone else with him – a woman whose hand he held.

Regina turned as she walked, trying to catch sight of who the woman was. But the couple passed from under a street lamp and into shadow. She couldn’t even make out the back of her head.

"You were right," Robin said, breaking into Regina’s thoughts, and she turned away from Archie and his date. She could always ask him about it later. "About Ursula, about her capacity to change. I'm sorry I wasn't more supportive."

"You were right to be mistrusting," she told him, surprised at his declaration. "You were protecting us - all of us," she amended, casting her gaze around the town. "I certainly don't begrudge you that."

Robin stopped and called Roland over to them. "We're together," he said. "We're a family, and we're safe. I couldn't ask for more." He put a hand on Roland's shoulder and smiled down at him. Then he slid an arm around Regina's waist and kissed her deeply.

Roland made a gagging sound and wiggled free of the group.

Regina laughed. It wouldn't be too much longer when he'd be liking girls. And, if her intuition was correct, there was certain red-head who had just been born who might cause him some heart palpitations in the time to come.

But they had years before they would encounter any of that, years full of love and life and laughter. And Robin was right: there was simply nothing more Regina could ask for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I entertained you, consider buying me a coffee: Ko-fi.com/heidirs
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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